Welcoming Our New Team Members: Oana, Lena, Flo and Jakob

There have been some big, exciting changes at MeisterLabs over the last couple of months, as we’ve welcomed four new team members to our Vienna office. Our new colleagues span a whole range of expertise, from front-end development to people management.

With grand plans for how to grow and improve MindMeister and MeisterTask for our users, we’ve been on the lookout for new team members to help put these ideas (and their own) into action. Here’s where our wonderful new colleagues step in!

Introducing Our New Team Members

Oana Balaceanu – Quality Assurance

Hi there, I’m Oana and I joined MeisterLabs a few weeks ago as a quality assurance engineer.

My background

My professional journey started 5 years ago when I began working as a junior Android developer. Since then, I’ve covered roles in research, threat intelligence and quality assurance in Romania, Austria, Japan, and France. To spice it up, I’ve also volunteered in NGOs and IT communities as a graphic designer and photographer. I have a B.Sc. in Computer Science and I’m currently on my way to getting my M.Sc in Business Informatics, so as you can imagine, I’ve also become interested in the less technical aspects of IT, like innovation, organization and risk management too.

My role at MeisterLabs

As a quality assurance engineer at MeisterLabs, I’ll cover the manual and automated testing on all our products. This involves researching new testing tools and technologies and making sure that our testing environments and devices are up and running. I’ll also be setting up some new QA processes and ensuring communication between different departments is running smoothly. My aim is to help ensure that the MeisterLabs products are delivered fast and that our users are satisfied. Providing high quality, fast and bug-free software products is what motivates me in my job and receiving positive reviews from happy users is what drives me forward!

About me

When I’m not at work or university, I like to level up my photography skills, explore Vienna and its surroundings, and help my mom manage our strawberry farm back home in Romania.

Lena Kowarc – People Management

My background

I’ve had a personal dislike for the term ‘human resources’ ever since focusing on HR during my International Business Administration degree at WU Vienna. While completing my Masters in Business Communication in the Netherlands and Management (CEMS), it became even more obvious to me how important it is to truly foster team collaboration, rather than simply seeing employees as resources. During this time, I was involved in recruiting, employee development and HR change management, with companies such as Deutsche Bank and Deloitte.

My role at MeisterLabs

At MeisterLabs, I feel responsible for employee satisfaction. Thanks to the MeisterLabs Founders, there’s already a great basis for successful People Management. Our aims are high: growing from 30 to 50 people in the near future, while allowing for staff development and retaining a great company culture during these times of growth. What drives me in doing this is my interest in other people’s passions. What I do for MeisterLabs makes me believe that People Management can ultimately lead to personal growth for all team members, as well as amazing innovations company-wide.

About me

In my spare time, I’m often busy hanging out with friends and family, cooking together, trying out cool new places in Vienna or spending quality time at Neusiedlersee, a nearby lake where I spend my summer. While at university, I enjoyed exchanges to Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands and Ireland, and traveled Australia and parts of Asia, as well as Central America. I love to meet people from different countries and cultures, so this keeps me traveling the world while visiting the friends I’ve met along the way.

Flo Schrödl – Front-End Developer

My background

I’m a self-taught Graphic and Screen designer and I’ve been working as such for around 8 years now. However, I’ve always had an interest in the technical side of things too. As a result, over the past 2 or 3 years, I’ve been focusing on UI Development specifically.

My role at MeisterLabs

I’m a Front-end Developer, working primarily on some very exciting, upcoming changes to our online mind mapping solution, MindMeister. After working for a few years on the agency side of design and development, I’m really happy to now be working on the client side of a great product, producing and refining a solution that’s used all over the world. My favorite part of my job is working on the finishing polish of a product. These final touches, I find, make all the difference when working to provide a great user experience.

About me

In my free time, I work on my own little projects, be it by building useless Arduino machines, sketching characters or designing tools that help my everyday tasks. I enjoy running and swimming and I’m the newest member of the MeisterLabs Yoga Club.

Jakob Krigovsky – Front-End Developer

My background

I was interested in technology from a young age, so going into software development was an obvious step for me. After graduation, I started working as a developer at a local startup in Vienna, before joining the MeisterTask team, here at MeisterLabs.

My role at MeisterLabs

My main role at MeisterLabs is to advance our task management tool, MeisterTask. I’m a firm believer in annoyance-driven development, so rather than always looking for brand new features to add to a tool, I go after those mildly irritating issues that could otherwise go unfixed. My aim is to solve all of those minor annoyances, in order to make the daily experience for MeisterTask users that little bit simpler and more pleasant.

About me

Outside of work, I enjoy contributing to open-source projects that I believe in and traveling whenever I get the chance. If you like, you can find me on GitHub as @sonicdoe.

We’re delighted to have Oana, Lena, Jakob and Flo on board!

There’s still space to welcome new team members to our bustling office in the heart of Vienna. Check out our jobs page to find out which positions we’re hiring for.

If you don’t see an opening that fits, please do get in touch via [email protected] to let us know where you see yourself on our team!